Improvement in machines for breaking h em p



S. H. LITTLE.

Hemp Brake.

Patented Aug. 24, 1858.

' ATENT Grains.

SAMUEL H. LITTLE, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

lMPROl/EMENT IN MACHINES FOR BREAKlNG HEMP.

Specification forming part of Letlers Patent No. 2! #2641, dated August 24, 1858.

To aZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, SAMUEL H. LITTLE, of the city and county of St. Louis, and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Breaking Hemp and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which Figure 1 represents a perspective view of the machine. Fig. 2representsa longitudinal vertical section through the same.

Similar letters of reference, where they occur in the separate figures, denote like parts of the machine in all of them.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention. I will proceed to dcscribe the same with reference to the draw:

ings. 1

A represents the main frame of the machine, which, for convenient transportation from place to place or from field to field, may be mounted on wheels B BB 13. In bearings or boxes in this main frame is hung a shaft, 0, to which motion may be communicated from any first moving power through a crank or end less belt. On one end of this shaft 0 there is a cog-wheel, D, which drives apinion, E, that is arranged on the shaft or journal (0 of the beating-cylinder F, said journals rotating in pillow-block boxes b, resting on the main frame. The cylinder F is furnished with a series of heaters, e c 0,.set spirally or obliquely on its periphery and between each pair of heaters so arranged there are clearers d d (i, made of leather or other similar flexible material, set straight across said cylinder.

Upon the main frame A is placed a second frame, G, which latter is adjustable 011 the former by means of set-screws e, passing through slots in each. This second frame, G,

I supports the breaking-rollers H H, (which may both be grooved, though one is represented as plain,) the crushing-rollers I I, and the concave J, so that all these parts will retain their relative positions to each other when it becomes necessary to adj ust the concave to the beating-cylinder. The endless feeding-apron K may also be hung to or made a part of the second frame, G, so that said apron shall always he in proper position for delivering the hemp to the pair of breaking-rollers H H.

The breaking and crushing rollers may be which a chain, M, passes, and thence around another chain-pulley, N, on the end of the shaft or journal of the lower one of the pair of breaking rollers, thus rotating said lower roller. On the opposite end of said lower roll, H, there is a gear-wheel, O, that meshes with a similar gear-wheel, P, on the journal of the upper roller, H, of the pair. There is also on this last-mentioned journal a gearwheel, Q, that takes into a pinion, R, on the shaft of the lower one, I, of the pair of crushing-rollers, and thus rotates it, and through the gears S T the upper crushing-roll is rotated. When the two breaking-rollers are both grooved, one will turn the other by the meshring of their ribs and grooves, and consequently much of the above-described gearing may be dispensed with.

U is a pressure-pulley hung on an arm, V, that is made adjustable, so that when the second frame is moved to or from the main beater cylinder the slack of the chain maybe taken up properly. A chain-pulleyJ/N, is also placed on the journal of the lower one of the pair of braking-rolls near the first-described one, N, and around said pulley W, and around a'similar one, X, on the journal of one of the rollers, Y, that carries the endless feeding-apron K,

passes a chain, Z, to give motion to said apron K. The concave G has two curves, 1 2, in it, the upper one, 1, for holding the hemp up to the heaters and clearers c and d on the main beating-cylinder F. After the hemp has passed beyond the action of the heaters and clearers c d, it is then acted upon by a reel, f, which carries it against the curve 2 in said concave,

'which holds it up against the action of the reel, which completes the operation of cleaning the hemp, by knocking and blowing off all the remaining woody fiber not removed bythe previous action of the machine. After the hemp passes the reel and its portion of the concave, it is received upon an endless carrying-apron, g, which takes it to a point or place where it can be readily removed. Thereelf is driven from the gear-wheel D through the pinion h on its shaft, and the carrying or delivering apron is operated byabelt, i, passing around a pulley on the reel shaft, and a pulley, j, upon the journal 70 of one of its rollers.

' object of my invention, What I claim therein asrnew, and desire to secure by Letters Pat- 1. In combination with the main beatingcylinder F, rotating in a fixed vertical plane on the permanent frame of the machine, the arranging of the feeding-apron, breaking and crushing rollers, and concave in a second frame adjustable on the first one so that when it becomes necessary to adjust the concave to the beater-cylinder the parts preceding the concave in the operation shall always maintain the same relative positions to it and to each other, as set forth.

2. The arrangement and operation of the beater-cylinder F, the concave J, the reel f, and carrying-apron 9, all as described and represented, and for the purpose specified.

SAML. H. LITTLE.

Witnesses:

JAMES SWENEY, N. RANKIN. 

